NEW YORK (AP) — The chant echoed through the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday at US Open before Coco Gauff’s first service game in her first career match first Grand Slam tournament as defending champion: “Here we go, Coco! Here we go!”
After being eliminated early in other tournaments, Gauff was already trailing 1-0 by Varvara Gracheva, having lost the first game of the match at 0-0 by committing four baseline errors. The match that followed was tough and tight, with 14 points in eight minutes and three break chances for Gracheva.
The important thing, of course, is that Gauff saved all those break points, won that game and suddenly found herself in complete control on her way to a 6-2, 6-0 victory that not only put the 20-year-old American into the second round but also told her — and everyone else — that her game was in better shape than it had appeared of late.
“The last two weeks have been tough, and I’ve been like, ‘I have to do this and do that, but I don’t have to prove anything to anybody but myself.’ So … (these) two weeks are just about proving all the expectations I have for myself,” said Gauff, the No. 3 seed. “I’m going to come back here for many more years and I’m not going to win every year. I just have to have that perspective and believe that I can do it, but not have the expectation that I should.”
The first day of the final Grand Slam tournament of the year went as smoothly as possible for Gauff and another young American at Ashe, 13th seed Ben Shelton, a semi-finalist a year ago. who beat 2020 champion Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-2, 6-2It was the final US Open match for Thiem, who turns 31 next week and will retire after this season.
“She obviously plays with a lot of passion,” Shelton, 21, said of Gauff. “You can tell she’s giving it her all on the court. She’s all in every time she’s on the court. I think that’s something people love.”
Gauff wasn’t the only former U.S. Open champion on Monday’s schedule: The night session at Ashe began with 2017 winner Sloane Stephens, who blew a huge lead against Clara Burel and lost 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 after winning the first nine games, followed by Novak Djokovic — whose collection of 24 Grand Slam titles includes last year’s in New York — against Radu Albot.
Among the winning women’s seeds were No. 7 Zheng Qinwen, the women’s gold medalist at the Paris Olympics earlier this month; No. 24 Donna Vekic, a silver medalist; No. 12 Daria Kasatkina; and No. 14 Madison Keys.
Maria Sakkari, No. 9, had to retire after one set due to a right shoulder injury. The highest-ranked player of the day was Holger Rune, No. 15, who was eliminated by American Brandon Nakashima 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
Among the men’s seeds who qualified were No. 4 Alexander Zverev, runner-up to Thiem four years ago; No. 6 Andrey Rublev; No. 8 Casper Ruud, runner-up in 2022 at Flushing Meadows; No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov; and No. 12 Taylor Fritz.
Zheng is having a breakthrough season that started with a make it to the Australian Open final In January, Zheng reached her peak when she won China’s first singles gold medal of the Summer Games. Monday was a tough start against 2019 French Open semifinalist Amanda Anisimova, but she eventually came back to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
“Everything starts from zero. You are not the Olympic champion anymore,” Zheng said. “Just be humble and try to work, fight in every fight, because if you don’t fight, you have a big chance of losing.”
It reflects Gauff’s approach as she returns to the site of her greatest triumph so far.
While she was trying to start over after early eliminations in three events at the Paris Games — not to mention that trip to France; Gauff wore an Olympic rings necklace during Monday’s match — followed by a two-game losing streak on North American hard courts, Gauff did a good job.
That didn’t surprise Gauff. Not at all. She knew she hadn’t played very well in Toronto or Cincinnati in recent weeks. But she could also see that she was hitting balls well in practice.
“In general, that first round can sometimes set the tone for a tournament, whether you play well or not. I had a good mentality going into it. Does that mean I’m going to play well the next two matches? Yes or no,” Gauff said. “But I think the mentality I started with this week will be there, and hopefully the execution will stay the same.”
She needed just 66 minutes to win on Monday, using some of her 10 aces to help erase Gracheva’s eight break points and building a 16-5 advantage in winning points.
“We all knew from the beginning that Coco was going to be an incredible player. She’s incredibly mature and carries herself in a way that I wish I had at her age,” said Keys, 29, who lost to Stephens in the U.S. Open final seven years ago. “It’s also really impressive how she was able, despite all the pressure and expectations that were on her, to continue to do as well as she did.”
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Tennis AP: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
